


Just A Scratch

by makoredeyes



Series: The Human Condition [2]
Category: Titanfall
Genre: Gen, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 04:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10403463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makoredeyes/pseuds/makoredeyes
Summary: Jack sustains an injury in battle. BT, just figuring out this emotion stuff, overreacts on an absolutely epic level.Short anecdote.Ties right into Chapter 3 of Reunion, but stands alone just fine.





	

                BT-7274 searched the battlefield, feeling - _feeling! He was still getting used to that_ \- just slightly on the panicked side of anxious, as he tried to visually locate Cooper. The landscape around him was utterly chaotic. He swiveled on his pedes, swinging his weapon around and firing off two more defensive shots, barely allowing himself cover. He was preoccupied by his friend’s safety.  A missile flashed at his shoulder, igniting his shields in a blue halo briefly. He turned, Acolytes raised, and fired off a whole volley of rockets at the enemy titan. He strode forward to meet the other Titan as it staggered, tearing the weapon out of its hands and casting it aside. BT grabbed it and twisted, tossing it to the ground where it was quickly fed another round of ballistics at point blank range.  It didn’t get up.

                BT turned away, frustrated, and scanned the terrain again. 

                “Cooper, where are you?” He commed the Pilot, irritated.  Half a kilometer away, there was an explosion.  Another Titan toppled, and BT could see the tiny figure leaping away from it at the last moment. Jack had thrown a grenade down the hatch.  There was a burst of static and then Jack’s hastily barked reply.

                “ _Busy!_ ”

“There is far too much heavy arsenal for you to be on foot, Cooper.” BT declared, already making the march towards his friend’s location, clawing his way through.  

                “ _I noticed!_ ”  Jack replied, and much to BT’s annoyance, it sounded to him like the man was laughing. He kicked aside a Spectre as he tried to reach Jack, who was slowly being backed against a building without noticing.

                “That position is compromised, Cooper, get out of there!” BT barked. Behind him, a volley of bullets, issued from an overconfident IMC grunt, rattled harmlessly off his armored plating.

                “ _Shit!_ ”

                BT ignored the small fire striking his shoulder. He felt Jack’s good humor at his predicament turn to alarm at being cornered, and then to honest terror as a Reaper dropped from the rooftop over Jack, landing squarely between BT and his pilot. 

                Taking advantage of the distraction the Reaper caused, an IMC soldier took a shot at the cornered Pilot.

                Jack heard the shot, and flinched, reflexively guessing where the projectile was coming from.  Pain seared across his clavicle and he saw the hole through his scarf the bullet had made before plowing into the duracrete wall beside him.  His heart plummeted into his stomach, the scare shocking him.  His eyes were wide as he raised his gun defensively, searching desperately for an out.

                “ _COOPER!_ ” BT had at first only registered the shot, and Jack reeling backwards, the pain over his windpipe registering through the link.  _Protocol Three_ had lurched into murderous overdrive.

                His footfalls thundered, and more than one IMC soldier screamed as they were trod upon by the stampeding Titan. BT reached the Reaper first, shoving a fist down through its spinal column until it burst into flames before quickly moving on.  Both Acolytes were raised and coiled venomously and hissing fire as rockets spewed everywhere. Red mist, fire and smoke rose all around the cornered pilot, and when a second Reaper leapt down upon BT’s back, the Titan simply snatched it off of himself and chucked it at the soldier who had shot Jack, crushing him with the impact of the oversized robot.  From behind, the platoon he had passed in his rush to Jack was catching up, and gunfire spattered around BT, pitting the side of the building Jack was still backed against. The pilot had one hand to his throat, and BT detected blood on the man’s fingers.  He turned and unslung the Predator Minigun from his back and, squaring his stance to shield Jack as he did so, unloaded the entire clip on the approaching forces. He reloaded, and cleaned out a second clip, and was reloading a third time when Jack’s voice reached him.

                “BT! Cool it!  They’re _dead_ , man!”

                BT blinked. Their entire quadrant of the battlefield had been, effectively, flattened.  Smoke curled from craters in the ground, bits of bodies and robotics scattered everywhere. BT reluctantly holstered his weapon on his back. He hurried back to Jack, who had his helmet under one arm and his scarf off, dabbing at his throat with it, scowling.

                “State your condition!” BT barked, kneeling down next to Jack, hands hovering at the Pilot’s sides protectively.

                “I’m fine!  He missed…somehow,” Jack assured, awestruck. “I got lucky.”

                “You are not fine. You are bleeding.” BT insisted, optical shutters narrowed angrily.

                “I’m fine, Buddy, I promise,” Jack insisted, and he pulled the scarf away from himself, lifting his chin to allow BT a clear view of the shallow wound. “See? Just a scratch!”  BT blinked, staring down at the little red line, honestly dumbfounded.

                “How did you evade that?” BT asked flatly. He had been no more than millimeters from being slaughtered like livestock. Jack gave a giddy, neurotic little laugh, perfectly aware of this.

                “No idea. Luck!”  He paused, smirking up at BT. “You absolutely splattered _everyone_ , BT.”

                “I…” BT cut off, reassessing his words.  “Thought it was worse,” he admitted, embarrassed.  Jack’s eyebrows went up, and he licked his lips as he assessed the total destruction all around him.

                “You’re scary.” He said with a grin. Relief, giddy joy, and _pride_ radiated through the Neural Link. “Sometimes, I’m _really_ glad we’re on the same side, BT.” BT couldn’t fathom an alternate reality where they _weren’t_ , but he knew what the Pilot meant.

                “You’re welcome, Jack. Now please embark for your safety.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written any combat even close to this immersive. I had a LOT of fun. This is, guys, my fucked up idea of a joke, by the way.  
> Then again, I was the kid who laughed her ass off in the theater when I saw Kill Bill for the first time so...um... yeah.  
> Not sorry. X)


End file.
